Why Volunteer?

Healthwatch Darlington provide opportunities for individuals, groups and organisations across our community to work together to make a difference. In order for Healthwatch Darlington to reach its potential and provide an effective voice for the people of Darlington, it needs the expertise of local people, campaigners who use health and social care services and organisations who are experienced at representing their communities.

So why actually volunteer for Healthwatch?

From engaging with the community, to gaining valuable experience, there are many more reasons to volunteer with us, such as:

Taking active and passionate steps to ensure a difference is made within the local community in regards to health and social services.

Gain valuable skills and more confidence while working with a passionate group of people who will look out for you, just as much as they look out for the local community.

Recieve full training with our flexible volunteering program where you can pick the training that suits you the most. While you recieve unique training, you will take part in community engagement days, develop research skills and expand your knowledge on how health services work in Darlington, as well as how the public views them. Our new and upcoming volunteering program is also something to look forward to. Introducing more training to increase your confidence and to get you more engaged with the local community!

Going to University? Then improve your employability by gaining experience while working for a organisation that is very close with public health and social services. Due to our wide range of training packages for volunteers, there are many aspects that can make it onto a CV for future jobs. Such aspects include but are not limited to working in an office environment, interacting with the public, promotion of a service and even aspects of media and design if you choose to work more closely with the website for example.

Meeting new and interesting people while on the program, being part of a friendly and outgoing team, and more than anything it'll be fun. Though some roles can be difficult, our top priority is that our volunteers have a good time and enjoy their work while here.

What can we offer our volunteers?

All of our volunteers are extremely benefical to our organisation and we aim to support our volunteers by:

Giving all volunteers a full induction that includes a full tour of the building, data protection training and if the volunteers so wishes, a showcase of what systems we use and how they impact how we work.

Our utmost support will be given to our volunteers if they have any queries or concerns about health and social care services or anything else that may be on their mind. We want our volunteers to feel comfortable and to boost confidence and make the whole volunteering process a much better experience.

What is Healthwatch Darlington?

Healthwatch Darlington Limited is an independent consumer champion for health and social care in Darlington. The organisation helps to shape and improve local health and social care in our community. Healthwatch Darlington Limited is part of the Healthwatch national network, established by the Government to ensure local patients and users have a greater input to shaping and designing local services.